Open Letter: No more arrests for peaceful protest against the ban on Palestine Action

Chief Constables, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Crown Prosecution Service

Since July 2025, UK police have made over 2,100 arrests for peaceful protests against the proscription of Palestine Action. Amnesty International have made clear that the proscription is a violation of the UK’s international obligations to protect the rights of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and that all prosecutions against peaceful protestors should be terminated.

The use of terrorism laws in this way takes place at a time when our civil rights are under threat from multiple directions - with prosecutions pending against the organisers of the national marches for Palestine and the government imposing new restrictions based on the “cumulative impact” of demonstrations.

Between 18 and 29 November, Defend Our Juries will begin an 11-day campaign of civil disobedience against the proscription of Palestine Action, coinciding with the judicial review of the ban which is scheduled to take place at the High Court from 25 November.

Schedule of upcoming regional Lift the Ban protests

  • Tuesday 18th – Gloucester, Truro, Nottingham, Northampton, Oxford, Leeds, Newcastle, Caerdydd (Cardiff), Aberystwyth, Edinburgh.
  • Thursday 20th – London
  • Saturday 22nd – London, Belfast
  • Monday 24th – London
  • Wednesday 26th – London.
  • Saturday 29th – Bristol, Birmingham, Exeter, Cambridge, Sheffield, Lancaster, Manchester, Edinburgh, Caerdydd (Cardiff)

By signing this open letter, trade unionists, Palestine solidarity campaigners and other activists can show their solidarity with those risking arrest during these protests. You can opt to make your name public via letters to the local press and circulation on social media in the locations where the action is taking place to show the scale of opposition to this repression. Please note, if you agree to publish your name, this will not happen automatically but only when we have a group for each region.

To: Chief Constables, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Crown Prosecution Service
From: [Your Name]

As trade unionists and activists in the Palestine solidarity movement and beyond, we stand opposed to genocide and in solidarity with the campaign to reverse the proscription of Palestine Action as part of a broader campaign to defend the right to protest. We recognise the campaign against proscription as a vital part of opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which has received political, material, and military support from successive UK governments. This urgency remains unchanged by October’s ceasefire agreement, which Israel has violated with continued air strikes – one attack killing over 100 Palestinians – and by maintaining its prewar siege on the territory.

We demand that local police forces make no arrests against protestors exercising their rights to free expression and peaceful assembly during the Lift the Ban protests in Aberystwyth, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Caerdydd (Cardiff), Cambridge, Edinburgh, Exeter, Gloucester, Lancaster, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Northampton, Oxford, Sheffield, Truro between 18 and 29 November. We further call for the dropping of all charges against those previously arrested on Lift the Ban actions.

We will defend our rights to protest and express dissent which trade unions and movements for justice have won over two centuries of struggle and continue to fight for them in the face of the attempts by successive governments to roll them back.

We pledge to organise in our trade unions and communities to defend those facing court for peaceful protest - whether on spurious charges of “terrorism” or for other offences.